Monday, December 9, 2013

Documentary Review: Walking With Dinosaurs 1999

Today’s review should be compared with the previous
documentary review. Of course, this television program was made 10 years later.
In the late 90s, with the dinosaur enthusiasm produced by Jurassic Park
still strong, documentary producer Tim Haines wanted to make a cinematic style
documentary about prehistoric mammals. Dinosaurs proved to be more popular,
however, and Haines was told he could make a mammal program if and only if he
could make a dinosaur program first. In 1999, the BBC produced a high concept,
highly expensive, ambitious 6-part miniseries: Walking With Dinosaurs. Suffice
to say, it was a hit. Its imaginative style of prehistoric drama with
overlaying narration, based on nature documentaries, set the paradigm for all
paleontology documentaries since.So
today, I’m going to cover all 6 episodes, and see how they compare today. Why?
Well,this winter the BBC’s nature film
company will release a dinosaur epic under the same title, continuing the
legacy of their megahit 14 years before.

The first episode begins with a brief prologue-Kenneth
Brannagh narrates over a time-lapse landscape showing how much earth has
changed over hundreds of millions of years. The premise is set: instead of
dealing with scientists today, the viewer will be shown images of life in the
far past. Brief previews of the following episodes are shown: sea reptiles,
flying pterosaurs, and, of course, the great Diplodocus and Tyrannosaurus.

This first episode is set in Arizona, 225 million years ago. In geologic
terms, this is the Chinle Formation in the Carnian age of the late Triassic.
Placerias, a huge tusked dicynodont, represents the old order of therapsids;
the Permian extinction hit them hard, and the Triassic will wipe out all but
mammals. Its requirements of tons of
water and forage make it a clear loser in the desert habitat. Coleophysis, the
famous slender theropod, represents the new archosaurs- mobile, agile,
generalized, adaptable and soon to be masters of the world. However, the
protagonists are a pair of cynodonts. They are based on Thrinaxodon from Africa, despite the fact that no cynodonts have been
found in the Chinle Formation. They are shown as very doglike, and their mammal
connections make them sympathetic to the audience.

The main antagonist is Postosuchus, the giant armored
predator closely related to Teratosaurus. This was Postosuchus’ first role in a
documentary, and it would not be the last-there is even a very detailed toy of
this genus produced by Safari inc that closely resembles the animal shown here.
Postosuchus is introduced dynamically-bursting from seemingly out of nowhere to
maim and kill a Placerias.The German
Pterosaur Peteinosaurus makes an appearance hunting dragonflies and rounding
out the cast.

Postosuchus and the cynodonts each have their own
narrative-the Postosuchus is wounded offscreen, chased off by a rival
(palaeontologists everywhere slapped their foreheads in frustration when the
archosaur urinated to mark its territory like an amphibian or mammal), and
finally dies in a macabre scene where a horde of Coelophysis watch it slowly
succumb to infection before they eat it.

The cynodonts have their own story, their mammalian care for
their young exemplified by their underground burrow, their mammary glands and
their devoted parental care-their eggs hatch, and they care for their young,
protecting them from Coelophysis marauders. However, the dinosaurs are
persistent, besieging the family, eating one of the hatchlings, and digging up
the burrow. The cynodonts are forced to eat their remaining hatchling and flee
in the night.

The dry season is the main crisis of the episode. Placerias
migrate from the area when the river dries up. Coelophysis soon flood the area
as the dry season forces them to congregate around water. This is the excuse
for showing Coelophysis cannibalism. However, this behavior turned out to be
incorrect and misreading the fossil-the hatchling dinosaur turned out not to be
inside the adult, but underneath.

The story ends with rainstorms restoring the land, the
cynodonts finding a new nest and laying new eggs, and instead of Postosuchus
and Placerias moving in, a herd of giant Plateosaurus arrive. Plateosaurus are
another classic dinosaur, but also European and out of place. I suspect they
added the European pterosaur to foreshadow the other pterosaurs in the series,
and the Plateosaurs to foreshadow the giant sauropods of the next episode.

The next episode is set in the fern prairies and dense
conifer forests of Colorado
150 million years ago. This geologically is the famous Morrison Formation of
the Kimmeridgian age, home to all the classic dinosaurs that define both the United States
and the Jurassic, and even the entire age of dinosaurs. The episode beings with
a march of Diplodocus, the cinematography and music emphasizing their grandeur
and dignity. One breaks off, laying eggs in the forest.

This story is focused on the life of a female Diplodocus and
the premise that sauropods abandoned their nests and lived in age-segregated
crèches until maturity, supported by fossil trackways. The hatching is
threatened by a Ornitholestes, given both quills and a nasal horn. Both of
these are incorrect now; Ornitholestes was probably covered by a thin coat of
feathers and lacked any nasal crest. The hatchlings escape from their predator,
fleeing into the dense forest to hide in the undergrowth and eat ferns.

In contrast, we see the open plains with Stegosaurus and
Diplodocus. Diplodocus are shown as highly social animals (probably true) and
supporting their own moving insect ecosystems. Dung beetles feed on their
waste, parasitic blood suckers nest on their skin, and the tiny insectivorous
pterosaur Anurognathus eats the parasites in the style of a tickbird. There is
no evidence for this, but it’s not an unlikely behavior for a small
bug-muncher. The sauropods also change their environment by knocking over trees
to get at the ferns below. This is another assumption outdated today-the
studies made at the time of the documentary suggested that sauropods were
unable to raise their necks above their shoulders, and now new studies suggest
that they could easily raise them dozens of feet in the air.

A year later, our heroine’s crèche is threatened by a lone
Stegosaurus and a duo of Allosaurus, the main antagonists of the scene. Both
Stegosaurus and Allosaurus kill some of the yearlings, but the main Diplodocus
escapes when the two threats collide with each other and the Stegosaurus chases
off the Allosaurus with an intimidating threat display.

Four years later from the last scene, we see the crèche
growing into 30-foot subadults (the growth rate of sauropods, according to
recent reports, was actually much slower with the animals taking decades to
reach adult size) in the open forests. A forest fire kills some and forces the survivors
onto the plain, where they meet first a giant Brachiosaurus and then a herd of
adult Diplodocus led by their gigantic queen.

Five years later, we are shown Diplodocus breeding. Two
males duel over our lead character, and the winner goes on to court her and
mate with her. After the mating, she wanders off and is attacked by Allosaurus.
The rest of the herd come to her rescue, with the giant queen swatting away the
predator with a swipe of her whip tail. The story ends with both the queen and
the still-growing protagonist marching off with the herd in triumph.

The opening for the third episode is by far the best. The
narration talks about the top predator of the Jurassic hunting and stalking
their prey. We are shown a Eustreptospondylus, a Middle Jurassic Megalosaur,
fishing. The twist comes when the dinosaur is snatched off its perch by a giant
pliosaur and dragged into the deep. The focus is no longer on the dinosaurs but
on the weird and wonderful marine reptiles of the day.

The setting is Oxfordshire, 149 Million years ago. While the
Morrison had its own counterpart in Portugal,
Spain and France, the rest of Europe
was made up of tiny islands. Oddly enough the great German shale is not
used-Archaeopteryx and Compsognathus are never seen. Instead the story begins
in the sea. The small plesiosaur Cryptocleidus is given a seal-like lifestyle:
resting and nesting on the shore (recently, plesiosaurs have been found to give
birth to live young) and nimbly dancing in the water among the ammonites and fish.Another scene shows seabird-like
Rhamphorhynchus fishing in its own style.

The main characters, however, are shown to be the
Opthalmosaurus, a big eyed Icthyosaur. A huge pod arrives in the English reef,
giving birth so that the infants can hide in the coral. One mother has trouble
giving birth, however. A shark, Hybodus, arrives to kill her, but is sent
fleeing by the other protagonist and breakout character of the series. This is
an oversized Liopleurodon (the largest Liopleurodon specimen is of a 30-foot
individual, but inspired by remains of Pliosaurus funkei and a Mexican
pliosaur, Haines and his team extrapolated their century-old bull as 85 feet
long), a giant pliosaur specialized in hunting and killing other marine
reptiles. His ambush strategy, senses, and locomotion is demonstrated as the
ancient sea monster takes the unfortunate mother (her tail falls to the sea
floor in a homage to a similar scene with a human leg in Jaws).

The third main character is then established-a beachcombing
Eustreptospondylus swimming from island to island in search of food. It
attempts to take a sea turtle from another Eustreptospondylus, but is driven
off.A brief sidetour shows bark beetles
in the trees of the ancient British Isles,
hunted by Rhamphorhynchus.However, the
pterosaurs get their chance later when the horseshoe crabs arrive to spawn. The
Rhamphorhynchus swarm like seagulls to eat the eggs, and the hungry
Eustreptospondylus manages to eat a few of them in turn.

In the sea, meanwhile Cryptocleidus and Ophthalmosaurus are
contrasted-pleisosaurus hunt fish in the sunlit shallows and swallow stones for
ballast., while the Icthyosaurs hunt squid in the depths at night. The
juveniles are restricted to the reef- hiding in coves from Hybodus and eating
reef fish.The Liopleurodon, in the
meantime, mortally wounds an intruding female

The climax comes with a horrific hurricane, slaughtering
many of the pterosaurus and marine animals. The Ophthalmosaurus, now adults,
manage to survive and swim off into the open ocean. The Liopleurodon,
unfortunately, is beached and slowly dies as he is unable to get back to sea.
The end is an ironic reversal of the opening ambush with the Eustreptospondylus
finally getting luck and devouring the stranded old pliosaur.

Episode 4 is set 129 million years ago in the Barremian age.
We open on the corpse of a pterosaur, and we are told his story will be the
focus of the episode. The story flashes back too Brazil, with a fauna based on
the later Santana formation. Pterosaurs are introduced by a seaside colony of
Tapajera (later separated into its own species, Tupandactylus) during mating
season. Males are established as the bigger flashier morph, fighting over rocks
and waving their crests to intimidate rivals and attract females. It’s also
mating season for the Ornithocheirus (currently reassigned to Tropeognathus and often synonymized with Anhanguera and Coloborhynchus, two closely
related pterosaurs. All current specimens indicate a maximum wingspan of 25
feet, but Haines and company extrapolated to a 40 foot wingspan), an old male
who will be the tragic hero of the story.

Flying along the American coast, he arrives to what is now Georgia (represented
by fauna from the Cedar Mountain Formatnion) and comes across a mixed herd of
Iguanodon and Polacanthus. These two genera in North America, by the way, have
been reassigned to their distinct genera: Lakotadon and Gastonia.A storm grounds our pterosaur, and in the
meantime we observe the efficient feeding and locomotion of the Lakotadon and
the emergence of the first flowers and pollinators.

After grooming off his Saurophthirus fleas, the Tropeognathus flies
off, crossing the Atlantic in an epic flight. Recolored footage of Liopleurodon
lurks below, portraying Plesioliopleurodon. The pterosaur finds foot by skimming the surface and pirating other pterosaurs. He finally arrives in one of the
Spanish islands, where we are introduced to Iguanodon, Polacanthus, and wildly
misplaced Utahraptor (native of the Cedar Mountain Formation and completely
unknown in Europe) in the Calizas
de La Huérgina Formation.The ecosystem is established as the Iguanodon
and Polacanthus live together for mutual support and Utahraptor stalk the herd
for Iguanodon they can pick off. One ambush is attempted, but only one of the
predators reaches their target and is quickly shaken off. They regroup and
attack again, managing to bring down one Iguanodon by double-teaming it and
biting it on the neck.The Utahraptor
are shown as social animals with a strict hierarchy; while eating the carcass,
the elder dinosaurs eat first and enforce their rule against a pushy youngster.

This bit of pointless but pretty “Raptor” fanservice finished,
Tropeognathus moves on to rest again. This time he unfortunately happens to
park right next to the nesting colony of Iberomesornis, the only feathered dinosaurs in the program. They mob
him in defense of their nests, sending him on his way. Finally, our pterosaur
arrives at the breeding grounds-old and exhausted, he’s no match for the
younger males that have already arrived and they drive him off again (both
pterosaurs in this episode are sexually dimorphic). While the younger
pterosaurs proceed to mate, the protagonist limps off to the beach to die.It’s a tragic ending to an epic story.

Episode 5 changes
the focus from spectacle to location, using the South Australian dinosaurs of
Dinosaur Cove to illustrate the dinosaurs of the Antarctic Circle, 106 million
years ago. The protagonists are, instead of a big or famous dinosaur, a clan of
Leaellynasaura, ornithopods the size of terriers with the tail three times the
length of the body (shortened in this series). One, still hibernating, is eaten
by a giant amphibian. As the clan awakes, the amphibian, Koolasuchus clumsily
leaves its winter pond to get to the main river where it hunts during the warm
months.

The Leallynasaura
are given birdlike behaviors-a cooperative group based around an alpha mated
pair, building decoy nests along with the real ones, and having a sentry to
look out for predators. As an example, a polar Allosaur (now assigned to
Australovenator) stalks the clan, but the sentry gives it away and they escape.Muttaburrasaurus arrive, complete with
speculative but spectacular inflatable noses. The Austalovenator tries his luck
at the Muttaburrasaurus as prey, but he’s quickly outmatched and forced to flee.

More birdlike
parental care is demonstrated as adults monitor and adjust the temperature of
the nests and drive off a marauding Steropodon
(portrayed by a coati despite the animal being far more similar to a platypus)
by kicking dirt at it.We cut to the
summer and see a variety of scene of each animal. A Tuatara eats a Weta (stock
footage), biting flies torment Muttaburrasaurus, and the Australovenator
confronts a rival over a Muttaburrasaurus carcass.The hatchlings are shown growing up-first cared
for in their nests, but quickly growing into sprightly little kids playing
around sleeping adults and even managing to avoid death at the hands of the
hungry Koolasuchus. In the Autumn, our clan fights its neighbors and eats
fallen vegetation left by the Muttaburrasaurus before they begin to return to
their Australian home for the season. One gets lost, distracting
the clan’s sentry long enough for the Austalovenator to attack the clan and inadvertently
kill and eat the lead female.

Winter sets in with the Koolasuchus returning to his pond,
the Muttaburrasaurus returning to Australia, but the Leallynasaura staying.
They eat fungus when the leaves freeze, and use their huge eyes to see in the
days of darkness. At the worst of the winter, they huddle in a pile and hibernate.
Spring is announced with the thawing of a dormant weta. With the winter over,
the dinosaurs revive and the segment concludes with mating season as new
leaders fight their rivals and mate.

The last episode is, of course, centered on Tyrannosaurus.
Said dinosaur makes a dynamic entrance by suddenly killing an egg-raiding
mammal. This episode is set in Montana, 65 million years ago in the famous Hell
Creek formation. Oddly, the environment chosen was the barren lava fields of
Chile. The narration explains that dinosaurs are endangered and the world is
dying slowly from volcanic eruptions, a view that’s disputable to say the
least. This is made especially clear when one Tyrannosaurus’ attempt to
scavenge victims of volcanic gas nearly leads to its own demise.

Fortunately, we quickly return to the forests and plains,
with angiosperms and flowers establishing the plant fauna. Other animals are
seen-Ankylosaurus (this reconstruction is now obsolete thanks to a reassessment
of Ankylosaurus material) browses while a Dromeosaurus (the Hell Creek material
is now its own genus Acheroraptor) pursues a Thescelosaurus (being portrayed by
the Leallynasaura model when Thescelosaurus had a very unique look), and two
Didelphodon fight over an abandoned Tyrannosaurus nest. It’s mating season; the
male Tyrannosaurus begins calling out for a mate and kills a Triceratops
offscreen to court her while Torosaurus display and joust (one male losing a
horn). The male succeeds in courting and mating, but it’s short lived and the
next scene shows the female driving him off.

Short vignettes introduce Anatotitan (now reassigned to
Edmontosaurus) feeding and Quetzalcoatlus stopping to fish (Quetzalcoatlus is
too far north, and was probably a hunter of small terrestrial prey, not a
fisher) before having to escape a Deinosuchus (portrayed by a floating
head).The next time we see the
Tyrannosaurus, she is guarding her nest from Didelphodon and Acheroraptor. Four
weeks pass-the Torosaurus are attacked at night by Acheroraptor and they take a
baby, while the Tyrannosaurus kills an Edmontosaurus to feed the hatchlings.

After their snack, the hatchlings get into real trouble.
They tease a Dinilysia (played by a
red-tailed boa. The genus is not only South American, but from an earlier
period) and wander too close to an Ankylosaurus. The mother comes to their
protection, challenging the Anklyosaurus. The armored dinosaur strikes her with
his tail club, breaking her ribs, leg, and rupturing internal organs.In a tragic scene, she slowly dies of her
injury while the hatchlings cling to her side. To add further tragedy, the
asteroid hits.

Yes, like, all
documentaries set in Hell Creek at 65 Million years ago, this one ends with the
extinction of the dinosaurs. The shockwave devastates the continent, wiping out
the dinosaurs. Molten debris is kicked up by the impact and rains down.
Spectacle and tragedy seem to be a staple of prehistoric documentaries, and
this one sets the standard.However, to
make sure the series ends on a positive note, we fast forward 65 million years
to the modern African Savanna. The last
narration explains that not only did the dinosaur extinction allow for mammals
to rise from the shadow of their towering rivals but dinosaurs are still as
dynamic as ever as modern birds. The credits roll over footage of the savanna
birds.

I wouldn’t call
this a perfect show-a lot of the science is bad or outdated. Animals appear in
the wrong places and periods. The Tyrannosaurus model, among others, is
anatomically incorrect.The final
segment, despite the fascinating setting and cast, is very predictable in the
focus on Tyrannosaurus and the extinction, but to be fair this is more of a sin
of the following documentaries than the original. Yeah, we have some
stock fauna like Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, Iguanodon, Ankylosaurus,
Allosaurus, Diplodocus and Utahraptor, but we are introduced to obscure animals
like Eustreptospondylus, Leallynasaura, Placerias, Liopleurodon, Opthalmosaurus
and Postosuchus, I would argue that Postosuchus and Liopleurodon became famous
due to this special.

More than just the animals, what this special did was
introduce a new way of making dinosaur shows. Before, it was focused entirely
on talking heads and interviews. Dinosaur behavior was described instead of
shown, dinosaurs themselves being usually depicted by static pictures or their
skeletal mounts. It had more to do with history specials than with wildlife
specials. Stop Motion animation was too expensive and two-dimensional animation
not considered convincing enough for extended periods. Tim Haines and the BBC
special effects parties were ambitious-the animals still look good despite over
a decade of effects development, and it took years for its imitators to surpass
it.

This is clearly based on conventional wildlife
documentaries; there is a narration explaining the events and scientific facts
on the animals. The animals are not anthropomorphized nor are simply
monsters-even the Tyrannosaurus is given a social life and familial side. Like
nature documentaries, the show follows an animal or a community over a lifetime
or a period of time.A great example of
the similarity is that some important incidents in the storyline are never
seen, much like that of a usual documentary. Of course, there are still imaginative camera
angles and tricks that would be difficult to do in real life, but those only
show to spice up scenes in the story.

A common complaint with this documentary is the speculation.
I would argue that while there are things that were blatantly wrong such as any
of the notes I made in the summary, but the beauty of palaeontology is that
speculation is part of the entire process. Yes, it should be acknowledged as
speculation (this is a problem inherent in this style of documentary), but
using your imagination is required, and it’s fun. It’s this speculation and
imagination that keeps me interested in the topic. I hope this documentary got
a lot of people into paleontology, no matter what its flaws.

Overall, I give it an 87 out of 100. Not flawless, but
deserving of all the awards and the standard of all dinosaur shows. If you’re
interested in dinosaurs, definitely give this a watch.

About Me

Hi everyone! You may know me already, but 99% of you won't. I've decided to make a blog for myself. I'm a anthropology student who has returned to his original passion for palaeontology. Ever since I was little, I've been fascinated with the weird and wonderful animals that have inhabited our planet and I've made this blog to keep this in my mind and hopefully in yours. Most people blog about their interests, and while I've got a range of interests-see history and anthropology above, not to mention zoology, astronomy, art, cooking, science fiction and fantasy films and literature, and a myriad of others, the one I want to do for a living is the study of Earth's ancient past.

On this blog I'll review papers, talk about fossils, museums, and taxa, review art, film, literature, and our culture's view of paleontology, and share memories and insights. I've been inspired by the far better blogs of professional palaeontologists, and I'll share them as time goes on. I'm also open to requests and questions of opinions, the latest palaeo news, and discussions with other fans informal and professional.

I think this is going to have fun, and I'm hoping my readers will have just as much fun.

Copyright: All media and print reviewed belongs to the owners and publishers. Likewise, all art used for this blog belongs to their artists. This is a non-profit blog for education and entertainment.